Arcadian | Styling Pomade

Today, we'll be looking at the newest product from one of my favorite homebrewers out right now: Eric Dale of Arcadian Grooming. This boy literally established his name with Arcadian Clay Pomade, which is the best selling clay pomade in our community. I love it. Now, he's been playing in the background for a long time now and has finally decided to drop something new.

Styling Pomade is a high hold and moderate shine cream pomade. What's HIGH hold? Well, that was something new -- we'll talk about it.

Design

It's consistent with the previous designs from Arcadian. It's clean and minimal. I've always like his matte finish labels and the font choices. I'd be curious to see a more intricate design from Eric someday in the future -- but then again, I say about my own design work sometimes and never change.

Scent

I like it. It's a pepper-woodsy aroma. As many of you long-time readers may already know, I'm a sucker for wood aroma. Don't mistake this pepper accent for a cedar type of smell though -- it's different. There's a citrus aspect to it, and it doesn't quite bite as hard as cedar or pine does alone.

Consistency

Straight up like lotion. I love it when a homebewer can pay attention to these slight details. This is one of the softest and creamiest products we've ever witnessed.

Application

Super easy application. I was afraid that this pomade would react like a salon product when it touched my hair -- dry and start getting all grippy as shit. But, it didn't! At all. It stayed very soft. Even as some grittiness started to appear, the oils in the product kept things loose.

Shine

Neutral. Or, you can argue that there is a bit of added shine. Just barely.

Texture

You can style a clean pomp as I demonstrated in the video. However, I think it shines brightly once you add texture and allow it to take on a more freeform shape. The separation is very slight and the overall thickness/weight of the product is very light. This causes the texture to come through is swooping waves and large sections. I love it.

Strength

I think this is where I and many of you were confused. There's a lot of different terms that brewers use to describe their product's strength or hold. Strong. Firm. Heavy. Superior. And now, high. Do these all mean the same thing? Are these different? Outside the pomade world, they unquestionably have different meanings.

So, what does high mean? Well, based on this product's performance, we can infer that it doesn't mean this is a strong hold pomade. It provides high volume for styling and more of a medium hold with very light weight.

Control

It's a true pleasure to work with. In the hands of a skilled individual, I think one can do some very magical things with Styling Pomade. It even did great relaxing my sides to sit down.

Endurance

As I would expect from a lightweight product and especially once textured up, this product couldn't keep my pomp together with all the direct heat of today. While the pompadour may have fell down and some of the product evaporated, a large portion of the product remained. My hair NEVER fell into my face.

Restyling

You can get a good amount of the volume back. The main thing is that you can get your hair back and out of your face. Plus, you can still maintain a good level of texture.

Greasiness

Nope.

Hardness

Nope.

Rinsing

Just add water.

Conclusion

Though the use of 'High Hold' was confusing, it doesn't deter how phenomenally formulated this product is and how damn good of a match it is for my hair. It has all the basics for me to style a good pomp that will go through a heavy gym session and a relaxed day at a desk. But what makes it exceptional is that it also has all the minor details that make the experience a pleasure: creamy lotion-like consistency, easy application, and a clean feel all day long. Arcadian Styling Pomade receives my Seal of Approval and has become a daily pomade for me.

For the best price, we offer Styling Pomade through The Approved List.